Chart holder



April 18, 1961 E. H. EBERSOLE CHART HOLDER Filed Jan. 19, 1959 INVENTOR. ELBERT H BR$0L BY HIS A TTORNE Y5 CHART HOLDER Elbert H. Ebersole, 2925 E. California, Pasadena, Calif.

' Filed Jan. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 787,582

Claims. (Cl. 129-4) This invention relates to a device for mounting or holding sheets of material such as charts, maps, and the like, and particularly to a chart holder adapted for convenient loading and unloading of charts and for convenient temporary mounting on a wall or other vertical surface. 7

In school, lecture, chart, map, etc., rooms and at business, technical and other meetings, conferences, and the like, it is desirable to arrange in some logical sequence display material or visual aids such as a group of charts, graphs, maps, etc., for reference or illustration purposes during the course of a lecture, speech or discussion. A holder for such charts and other visual aids should be inexpensive and eflicient. It should be capable of rapid loading, mounting on a wall, for example, and rapid disassembly and unloading without injury to the display material.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a holder for such display material which is very easy and convenient to use.

Another object is to provide such a holder which is inexpensive and efficient and will not cause injury to the display material.

Additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description which is given primarily for purposes of illustration and not limitation.

Stated in general terms, the objects of my invention are attained by providing a sheet holder comprising a first or rear strip member and a second or front strip member preferably adapted to fit over the rear member. The first strip member preferably has protruding from a face thereof at least two spaced sheet-piercing elements, and the second strip member preferably is provided with apertures spaced to receive said elements. Means for detachably connecting said first and second strip members also are included. Such means, may for example, be clamp means. In a preferred embodiment two clamp means are mounted in spaced relation on the rear strip member, each having a portion thereof projecting forwardly from or through the rear strip member and adapted to pierce the upper ends of display material mounted thereon. These projecting portions of the clamps preferably are pointed wire portions or pins. The clamps preferably are pivotally mounted on the rear strip member and made of resilient wire which is adaptedto detachably clamp the front strip member over the rear strip member with the display material held between the two members on the pins pivotally projecting forwardly through the rear strip member. The rear strip member preferably also is provided with spaced pin means such as tacks or nails each having a pointed wire portion thereof projecting forwardly from or through the rear strip member for piercing and holding the upper ends of charts. The front strip member conveniently is pro- 2,980,115 Patented Apr. 18, 1961 ICC front strip member and is provided with a large hole or aperture near each end thereof for loosely mounting the assembled holder on two spaced hooks such as two L-shaped map hooks, for example.

A more detailed description of a preferred embodiment of my invention is given with reference to the included drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view in perspective showing a preferred embodiment of the chart holder mounted on two map hooks on .a wall and loaded with several charts, the front chart being turned back over the holder to display the one behind; V

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a clamp at the left of the holder pivoted into the unclamped position and a clamp at the right pivoted into the clamped position;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2 and showing details of the clamp, clamp projecting portion and a tack or pin; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing details of a resilient wire clamp in continuous lines and the outlines of portions of the chart holder in phantom.

The rear strip member 10 is made to extend a short distance beyond the ends of the front strip member 11. Large apertures or holes 12 and 13 adjacent the ends, respectively, of the rear strip member 10 are cut through the strip and made much larger in width than the thickness of L-shaped map hooks 14 and 15 so that the assembled holder readily can be mounted on and dismounted from the hooks. The front and rear strip members 10 and 11 are shown in the drawing as made of wood. Other materials such as plastics and light metals can, however, be used, and I do not intend to restrict my invention to the use of any particular material of construction.

A pair of spaced clamp means '16 and 17 is employed to detachably connect the front and rear strip members 10 and 11 and clamp or retain one or more charts or other sheet members in a sheet-receiving space therebevided with large spaced apertures or holes each arranged tween. The preferred clamp means constitute bent wire elements which hinge from aposition straddling the strip members to a position in which the front strip member is released.

As shown, each clamp means is a bent-wire clamp having a loop portion adapted to straddle tine strip mem bers and a leg traversing the rear strip member 11 and acting as a hinge portion. Each clamp consists of a front portion 18 bent back upon itself to facilitate grasping for manipulating the clamp, this front portion having a crest 18a adapted to slide along the front face of the strip member 11 in an arcuate path. Each clamp has a transverse portion 19 in approximately the same plane as the front portion 18 and of a length somewhat greater than the combined thickness of the members 10 and 11. A rear portion 20 is bent laterally from the aforesaid plane and extends in a plane substantially perpendicular to the transverse portion 19 in a direction about at right angles to the generally common plane of the front and transverse portions. Finally, each clamp has a forwardly projecting portion constituting a leg 21 substantially perpendicular' to the rear portion 20. The leg 21 extends relatively snugly through an opening 211; of the rear strip member 10 and constitutes a hinge portion. The front portion 18, the transverse portion 19 and a part of the rear portion 20 comprise arms which together constitute a loop portion displaced sidewardly from the leg 21 and lying generally in a plane tangential to a circle drawn about the hinge axis of the leg 21.

Each clamp may be swung about the hinge axis from the release position, shown at the left in Fig. 2, to the clamping or straddling position, shown at the right in Fig. 2. As the clamp moves to the latter position, the

crest 18a rides to and along the front face of the front stn'p member 11. This deforms the clamp by developing a torque in the rear portion 2%), the leg 21 tending to twist laterally in the opening 21a. This increases the frictional forces between the leg 21 and opposed side walls of the opening 21a at opposite ends thereof, tending to lock the leg 21 tighter in the opening. The transverse distance between the crest 18a and the end of the rear portion 20 at its point of connection to the leg 21 is about equal to, or slightly less than, the thickness of the rear strip member 16 plus that of the front strip member 11 so that pivoting either of the clamps will press the two strip members together. When the upper ends of sheets or charts 26a, 26b, and Zen are sandwiched between the two strip members, the clamping pressure will be slightly increased. It will be noted by referring to Fig. 3 that the rear portions 20 of the clamps deviate outwardly from the rear surface of the rear strip member somewhat to aid in imparting a resilient or spring action to the clamps 16 and 17. The arrangement is a simple one for exerting a resilient force on the front strip member tending to clamp between it and the rear strip member one or several of the sheets 26a, 26b, and 260.

It is desirable that the leg 21 extend through the rear strip member an appreciable distance into the sheet-receiving space to link with the one or more sheets therein. Preferably the forward extension is provided with a point 22 and extends forwardly a distance no greater than the thickness of the front strip member 11. The sheets 26a, 26b and 260 can be progressively impaled on the points provided by the two clamps to give further support to such sheets.

In addition, it is usually desirable to provide additional sheetepiercing elements 23 which may be tacks or nails driven through the rear strip member 10 at approximately equal intervals between the clamps 16 and 17. Each sheet-piercing element 23 is preferably provided with a large flat head 24- and projects forwardly through the rear strip member about the same distance as the legs 21.

Each of the pointed legs 21 and each of the sheetpiercing elements 23 projects into one of a series of correspondingly spaced holes or apertures 25 when the front and rear strip members 10 and 11 are clamped together. Each aperture is of a diameter substantially larger than the leg 21 or element 23 received thereby. This facilitates assembly of the device when the sheets 26a, 26b and 260 are in place.

Auxiliary means, not shown, can be used to retain the clamps 1'6 and 17 connected to the rear strip member 10. I have found, however, that when the rear strip member is made of wood, the hinge fit of the leg 21 in the opening 21a prevents the clamp from dropping away from the rear strip member even when the clamp is disengaged. This retention can be augmented without interfering substantially with the hinge action by dipping the rear strip member including clamp and pins in varnish or similar material, the resulting coating of varnish or similar material on exposed portions of the legs 21 of clamp means 16 and 17 making them sufficiently larger in diameter than the opening 21a as to substantially prevent the piercing portion of leg 21 passing back through opening 21a. Suitable resins of the drying or thermoplastic type can be used instead of varnish to accomplish the same purpose especially when the strip members are not varnished or when they are made of plastics or metals.

The manipulation of the chart hanger of my invention is very convenient and its operation is extremely efficient. To load the hanger with charts the rear strip member 19 is placed on a flat surface such as a table top with the points, of the nails 23 and the ciamp portions 21 projecting vertically upwardly. The charts 26 to be displayed are arranged in the desired order with their upper end portions overlying each other and their upper edges coinciding with each other. The coinciding upper edges are aligned with the upper edge of rear strip member 10 and the upper ends of the charts are placed on top of the points of the clamp portions 21 and nails 23. The charts can then be pressed down with the hands so as to make the piercing elements pierce the charts and thus hold them in position. The front strip member 11 is then placed in alignment with the rear strip member 10 above the ends .of the charts in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 2 so that apertures 25 are directly above the points of clamp portions 21 and nails 23 respectively. The front strip member 11 then is placed downwardly so that the nails 23 and clamp portions 21 which pierce the upper overlapping ends of the charts 26 now project into apertures 25. Clamps 16 and 17 then are pivoted into clamping position as shown at the right of Fig. 2.

The resulting assembly then is lifted to the wall 27 opposite a pair of nails or hooks such as L-shaped map hooks 14- and 15. End hole 12 are aligned with the hooks 14, 15 and the hanger is easily moved into the hooked position as shown in Fig. 1. The charts 26 hang freely from the chart holder. When it is desired to refer to charts under the front chart, the front chart is simply turned back over the holder in the space between the wall 27 and the back of the holder, as shown in Fig. 1. Many charts can be hung on the same holder. The holder also protects the charts while they are conveniently rolled around the chart holder to be stored for future use.

The charts 26 can readily be removed from the holder by unclamping clamps 16 and 17, removing frontstrip member 11 from the assembly and removing the charts from the piercing nails 23 and clamp portions 21. It will be noted that the charts will not drop 01f the nails 23 and clamp portions 21 when the front strip member 11 is removed from the assembly because they are held by the piercing nails and portions 21.

Instead of hooking the assembly of charts and chart holder on wall hooks 0r nails, the rear strip member 10 can be provided with fastening members such as nails, screws, bolts, and the like for specialized purposes or on walls provided with cooperating fastening members of various types. Suction cups, for example, can be attached to the rear strip member 16) for mounting the holder on hard surfaces such as blackboards, window panes, or walls of marble, tile, glass, metal, etc.

Accordingly, although I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not desire to be limited thereto, but wish to be afforded the full scope of the following claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A chart holder comprising: a rear strip member for mounting an upper end of a chart thereon; resilient wire clamp means pivotally mounted adjacent each end of the rear strip member, each having a pointed wire portion thereof penetrating the rear strip member and projecting therefrom for piercing the upper end of the chart mounted thereon; pin means mounted in spaced relation on the rear strip member, each having a pointed wire portion thereof projecting from the strip member for piercing the upper end of a chart mounted thereon; a front strip member adapted to be clamped over the upper end of the chart and the rear strip member by said clamp means, said front strip member being provided with spaced apertures, each arranged for receiving one of said pointed wire portions, and each said clamp means containing a portion for pivoting in resilient detachable clamping relationship over the front strip member.

2. A chart holder according to claim 1, wherein the spaced apertures of the front strip member are many times larger in width than the pointed wire portions received thereby.

3. A holder for displaying sheets of material comprising: a first strip member having at least two spaced sheetpiercing elements projecting from a face thereof, said strip member providing an opening extending substantially transverse to said face; a second strip member having apertures spaced to receive said elements; and clamp means for pressing said strip members together, said clamp means being a bent wire element having a hinge portion extending in said opening and a loop portion straddling said strip members, said hinge portion having an end constituting one of said sheet-piercing elements.

4. A holder for displaying sheet material comprising: a rear strip member and a front strip member providing a sheet-receiving space therebetween adapted to receive the upper ends of a number of sheets to be displayed; and a pair of clamp means mounted in spaced relation on said rear strip member,-each clamp means havingva sheet-piercing portion projecting from the rear strip into said sheet-receiving space, each clamp means being a resilient wire element bent to provide a leg extending through said rear strip member and a loop portion straddling said strip members at a position spaced sidewardly from said leg, the forward end of said leg constituting said sheet-piercing portion, said leg extending relatively snugly through an opening in said rear strip member and hinging therein to swing said loop portion into and from straddling relationship with said strip members.

5. A holder for displaying sheetsof material comprising; a first strip member having at least two spaced sheetpiercing elements projecting from a face thereof, said strip member providing an opening extending substantially transverse to said face; a second strip member having apertures spaced to receive said element; and clamp means for pressing said strip members together, said clamp means being a bent wire element having a hinge portion extending in said opening and a loop portion straddling said strip members, said loop portion being displaced laterally from said hinge portion and providing a first wire arm bent to form a crest engaging a face of said second strip member and a second wire arm bent back upon said first wire arm to facilitate manual grasping, said first and second wire arms lying in a plane substantially tangential to a circle drawn about said hinge portion.

Shenk Dec. 29, 1891 Conneighton Nov. 27, 1923 

